Meet The OFR Team

RJ Elizarraz
Founder & CEO

RJ’s continuing mission is to provide more and better support to people struggling with addiction and mental health problems.

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BACKGROUND

RJ grew up in the Conejo valley region of southern California just north of Los Angeles. He was raised in a healthy environment by loving and successful parents. By the time he was 17, he had been expelled from several high schools. 2 years later, he was a full time drug addict. Over the next decade, a long slow drug induced decline finally ended in homelessness. When he finally hit bottom, his friends had given up on him and his family was exhausted. He turned his life around by doing everything his mind to told him to resist. He opened himself up to a new way of living. He sought out others who had gotten clean & sober and followed their advice. He joined a 12 step program and made it his number one priority. In the process, a miracle occurred in his life. His old sense of self obsession gave way to a new purpose of helping others. He became completely committed to seeing others recover the way he did. His first venture was a high structure men’s sober living. The success of that home lead to a women’s sober living. And then a third sober living which consists of 3 houses on one property - all gender specific. He now oversees the operation of 5 sober living homes in the Agoura/Westlake/Thousand Oaks area. To give even more help to people who are struggling with mental health and addiction issues, he opened a PHP/IOP treatment center in Agoura/Westlake. RJ’s continuing mission is to provide more and better support to people struggling with addiction and mental health problems.

Dr. Patrick Lockwood COO & Licensed Clinical Psychologist (Psy29866)

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BACKGROUND

Dr. Patrick Lockwood grew up in a small southern Missouri town, enculturated with classical southern and midwestern values like honesty, integrity, and the “neighborly” way of relating to people. He completed his B.A. in psychology at the University of Missouri, then moved to L.A. to earn his Doctorate of Psychology at TCSPP.

Dr. Lockwood has worked for non-profits, treatment centers, and has been a part of a number of startups over the past ten years. His background in community interventions began before he even graduated from the University of Missouri where he successfully co-authored a grant creating a virtual intervention to help parents on campus become more connected and develop a supportive community while working at Parentlink, a division of the university’s college of education.

Dr. Lockwood has trained with experts in the field of addiction treatment and has worked at every level of the treatment industry. He is currently an adjunct professor at California Lutheran University, teaching future clinicians about clinical skills, addiction, and research analysis. He also has a podcast on YouTube about topics related to mental health, wellness, psychology, and neuroscience called “the psychology checkup.” Finally, dr. Lockwood is the author of “the fear problem,” a book integrating the neuroscience and evolutionary psychology of our fear process to explain why we get triggered by politics and other “hot topics.”

Dr. Robert Rymowicz Psychiatrist

Research into dual diagnosis conditions has increased significantly over the past 2 decades. Dr. Rymowicz is passionate about treating patients who are at highest risk suffering from or developing this disorder.

BACKGROUND

Robert Rymowicz is fellow in addiction psychiatry at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, an APA/APAF leadership fellow serving on council on addiction psychiatry, and a trainee representative to the board of directors of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry. Robert attended medical school at Western University of Health Sciences, and served the national president of Psychsign, the American Psychiatry Sssociation's medical student organization. He completed his psychiatry residency training at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, where he served as a vice-president with the committee of interns and residents, representing all unionized programs in new jersey, and as chief resident in psychiatry in his senior year.

TREATMENT PHILOSOPHY

Dr. Rymowicz’s experience is that, in the vast majority of cases, conservative approaches to psychopharmacological interventions combined with therapy and holistic healing modalities gives dual diagnosis patients the best chance at recovery.

DR. RYMOWICZ’S GOALS FOR CLIENTS

Dr. Rymowicz’s goal is to help patients regain proper balance in the chemistry of the brain and restore optimal functioning. In most cases he prefers a conservative approach to using medications that helps to control symptoms and encouraging patients to embrace adjunctive therapies in order to heal.